In The Midst of Things
by Derpadina
Summary: After Into Darkness. The first five year mission with the crew of the Enterprise. To Boldly go... A standard Survey mission. A standard assignment. But wait... things go awry and the crew of the Enterprise is once more plunged into a universe-changing adventure!


**Disclaimer: **Hey, what's going on, everyone? This is my first attempt at a long anthology series for ST, I hope it's passable. This title is still very much work in progress - and progressing it does indeed very slowly. I do not have a proper title for this, yet and I am open to any of your kind suggestions.

Since I'm horrible at ratings, I'm going to keep this T for now, but expect some clearly marked M chapters later on - reader discretion is advised ;)

**I don't own, I don't profit.**

Have fun reading!

**Chapter 01 - Survey**

_Captains Log, Stardate 1213.8_

_Standard survey mission to the planet designated CM/779521 runs as scheduled. No signs of higher intelligent lifeforms, but the flora and fauna is plenty and beautiful. There are some unusual rock formations on the surface and our botanics lab has informed me about their findings of quite a rare enzyme in some of the specimen._

_I am happy that, after such a long time and many distractions along the way, we can finally return to be explorers again._

_Just a few more hours with our teams on the surface and we will have gathered sufficient samples to keep our science labs occupied for quite some time. First officer Mr. Spock is currently supervising the teams on the surface._

Jim Kirk finished his log entry, feeling very pleased with himself. Finally.

Finally, finally, they were _out there_ doing science. The very thing he had dreamed about his entire life.

It had been almost an entire year of ground assignments, Academy jobs and milk-runs with various small Starfleet vessels until the Enterprise was ready for operations again after the "Marcus incident".

This was the first time the entire crew was back together for deep space missions again. They had been scattered around Federation space for months at a time while waiting for repairs to finish.

Even though the Enterprise crew had been together for some time after their maiden voyage, they had never done a five-year assignment before. The model of the "five-year-mission" was being tested by Starfleet at the moment.

Some ships had been chosen almost two years ago to be the first to conduct this new mission type. The results so far were positive, so Starfleet Command decided to expand the program.

Of course the Enterprise and her crew would have to withstand alot more pressure and many more dangerous situations because they would actually be leaving Federation space on survey and scientific assignments at some point.

At the moment they were right on schedule with their planet survey missions at the edge of Federation territory.

Some Starfleet Captains may feel that something as simple as "planet survey" was undignified or ungrateful work, but for Jim Kirk this very thing meant that he could be what he had always wanted to be: an explorer. He just happened to also be in command of the Federation Flagship.

_To boldly go where no one has gone before_. He was still impressed about his random idea to put a sentence like this into his speech.

It hadn't missed its effect. Once he had finished talking, everyone was at the edge of their seats, ready to go exploring immediately.

He leaned back in the Captain's chair and took a sweeping look around the bridge, then said "Bridge to Spock. How's it going down there?"

The calm voice of his first officer answered "On schedule, Captain. The Xeno-entomologists' have finished their work earlier than expected. They are beaming up with their samples as we speak. The other teams are still on their respective routes. No incidents reported, so far."

As always, Spock's report was as accurate and short as could ever be hoped for. Kirk knew that Spock was just as interested in finishing their assignments quickly as he was himself. They both shared deep-rooted ambition.

Just a shame that, as the science officer, Spock would get most of the 'action' on assignments like this while Kirk had to supervise the ship's operations.

Well, Kirk thought, maybe we can swap duties at some point…. I am the Captain, after all.

When the time came, he would look out for a planet with nice mountains and gravity to boot. And then he would go climbing - with a nice big excavation kit to get the most beautiful rock samples he could find. He already felt excited about that prospect.

He had to shake himself back out of his reverie. Those were musings for another time. Right now, his focus had to be on the task at hand, even though there wasn't much he could do at this moment.

What he _could_ do was supervising, meaning_ filling out_, the duty roster for next week and handing out special assignments for the science labs that would be analysing this planet's samples. Kirk was eager to finish his assignments as precise and as fast as he could possibly do.

He hoped that they were watched closely, because he wanted to show the admiralty that _this_ was the right crew for the job. _This_ was the right crew for the Federation flagship. There could be no other. He wanted to personally prove that not only he had matured over the past year, but that he was confident in his crew.

Only two years they had known each other and already they have been through alot. Serving together on a Starship shapes and forges people in ways that are hard to explain to someone who has not yet experienced it.

A crew like this would be destined for greatness. Since his encounter with the old Spock there was no doubt about that in Kirk's young mind. And he would put all his efforts into making this happen. Even if it meant staying on the bridge and filling out boring duty rosters.

He spent the next solid two hours matching names with corresponding tasks.

…..

McMillen - 1400h Engineering

Gorlen - 1400h Galley

Reber - 1800h Phaser Room 2

….

Kirk was almost done and about to ask the Yeoman for another cup of coffee when the status update from the surface came in.

"Heydar to Enterprise. Geological survey team 4 reports back as ordered, sir. We have a rather large specimen of an outcrop of what we believe to be Teritellium. Request to beam it directly to the analytical lab."

"Permission granted, Mr. Heydar. Are the other teams also ready to beam up?" Kirk answered.

"Yes, Captain. The other teams are currently checking back in with Mr. Spock, we were the first to come back."

"Alright, Mr. Heydar, stand by for beamup. Kirk out." He gave the necessary instructions to the transporter room and checked in with the officers in command of the next duty shift.

Sulu was among the next team of botanists to beam down and continue his research on the native plant life. He wore an excited expression when he rose up from his console and turned toward the Captain's chair.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Captain. It's been quite some time since I had the chance to work on plants this exotic. Our arboretum doesn't have specimen with this much variety." Sulu said.

"No problem, Lieutenant. You've been a real help on that botanics department. Who would have guessed your interest in plants. If I didn't need you as a Helmsman I would consider to move you over to the science department." smiled Kirk.

Sulu recognized the little tease and smiled back "Thank you, sir. But I think I am happy with my lowly pilot job. You see, they want me to fly this big starship around… I don't even know its name… it must be really important, I guess."

Kirk laughed at this "Oh I guess it's not that important. Not if they let you fly it.", he nodded in the direction of the turbolift "Now get down there, Hikaru. Go have some fun."

Sulu smiled and nodded, then walked off the bridge.

The little conversation had lightened the sleepy mood on the bridge considerably. The officers on duty looked alot more attentive than just a few minutes ago. Good. The little things make all the difference in atmosphere, Kirk noticed.

Smiling, he continued checking the current reports on ship operations and then decided to contact his first officer for an update.

"Spock, give me a report, please." he said.

"All teams have reported back and are now in the process of beaming up, Captain. The replacement teams are due in 30 minutes. I will remain on the surface and continue tricorder sweeps." the Commander answered.

"Good to hear, thank you for the report, Commander. Let me remind you to not overwork yourself, you've been down there for three shifts already. If you exhaust yourself too much there will be at least two people up here who are going to have both our skins." Kirks' tone was cheery and light, but his meaning was not lost on his first officer.

He cast a quick glance over to the com-station where Uhura was sitting. She seemed to be absorbed in her work, but she had a small little smile on her lips - a sign that she had been listening.

Spock knew that McCoy and Uhura would start making a fuss and Kirk felt obliged to remind him of that every once in a while….. even though he himself was 'guilty as charged' in that regard.

"Agreed, Captain. I will be sure to keep that in mind. I would not want to trouble anyone on my behalf." Spock answered with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Kirk could hear the soft beeping of a tricorder in the background. Evidently Spock was intend on making the most of the time left before he had to return and take a forced break.

The beeping changed its tone and Spock's voice returned

"Captain, I'm picking up a peculiar energy reading. It correlates to the output of intelligent life." he said.

Kirk frowned. "Didn't the sensors pick that up when we scanned the surface at the start of the survey?"

"Negativ, Captain. Ze sensors did not pick up any readings of lifeforms or energy." piped up Chekov from the tactical console. "Ve did standart sensor sweeps upon entering orbit and zey came out negative, sir. Ze planet has been classified as 'M' without any higher lifeforms."

"Mr. Chekov, do you get any readings right now?" asked Kirk.

"Negativ, Captain."

"Very well then. Let's talk to engineering and let them do a level three diagnostic on the sensory systems. We don't want to get surprised by unfriendly patrols this close to the edge of Federation space. Can't afford for the sensors to be glitched out.

"Did you compensate for any subterranean lifeforms? Would it be possible that we just 'overlooked' a species that lives underground?" Kirk gave his orders swiftly as usual.

"I made the adjustments for the subterranean sweep myself, Captain. At the time there was no evidence of life or energy sources." Spock's voice came over the com. "However, since my tricorder is picking up a source right now, I will try to investigate."

"Spock, you are alone on the surface right now, if something goes wrong there won't be any backup standing by." Even though Kirk was still less younger than most other starfleet Captains, experience had taught him to exercise caution in a case like this. For good reason.

Spock's answer was, of course, not unexpected "I think that will not be necessary, Captain. A tricorder sweep will not require me to get too close to potential threats. And of course I will exercise the necessary caution."

Jim Kirk thought his first officer rather sounded like a little child trying to appeal for some candy.

You had to give it to him, Kirk thought. It was the exact same thing he would do if he was down there.

"You got it, Spock. Be careful." Kirk said "We will keep the channel open and speed up the beam-down of those survey teams to give you a hand should you need it."

Spock kept a steady flow of updates going while doing the tricorder sweeps. Most information were not relevant but he relayed them anyway, just for the record.

He stopped his updates after a while. The beeping of his tricorder changed. Evidently he was standing still again and had found something interesting.

"I am close to the source of the emissions now." came his voice over the comm. It was slightly distorted for some reason. "It is not subterranean. It is highly localized and much too compressed to be the result of intelligent indigenous life. I….believe…operational."

Static was growing worse, the last sentence was unintelligible.

"Spock, we can't read you. There is some sort of interference." Kirk tried to shout over the static. "Try boosting the signal, Lieutenant."

"Doing what I can, sir." came Uhura's voice from the com station. "Something is interfering heavily with our com system and it's growing worse. It's like something tapped into it, but I can't localize the distortion."

A trickle of something that felt like nervousness crept down Kirk's back. He didn't like where this seemed to be going.

"Spock! Get out of that area if you can read me!" he tried shouting again.

His first officer, however, seemed completely oblivious to the problems with communications and continued his report. The last thing they heard before the com gave out completely was "...begun…...moving….."

Suddenly there were warning lights flashing everywhere on the bridge.

"Keptin! I'm reading a massive energy surge where Mr. Spock was just standing! Something is happening, I can't read his lifesigns anymore!" Chekov's voice sounded shrill and panicky. "He's gone, sir. I can't penetrate that distortion!"

"Teleporters!" Kirk ordered.

"No use, sir. We can't even see if he is still there." answered the teleporter chief.

Fear rushed down Kirk's back.

"SPOCK!"

**A/N:** Phew! First chapter was hard to write. I hope you liked it. Kind of a slow start but I promise it gets more interesting soon! :)

Please excuse grammatical errors and misspelling and let me know if you notice any so I can correct them. Comments, reviews and constructive criticism is much appreciated. Let me know what you think :)

Thank you so much for reading :3


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